An Allentown man twice walked away from work release to take part in jewelry heists.

William Davis escaped from a state correctional facility twice in early 2013 while serving a sentence for forgery and theft.

It was during those flights that the 27-year-old Allentown man took part in a pair of armed robberies, kidnapping the employees of two jewelry stores and forcing them at gunpoint to open vaults so his crew could make off with millions of dollars worth of diamonds and watches.

Davis will now serve more than 14 years in federal prison for his role in an April 2013 robbery when he and four others stole $3.1 million worth of watches and jewels after using duct tape and pillow cases to restrain the employees of a Connecticut jeweler and abducting two of them to unlock the store.

U.S. District Judge Robert N. Chatigny, who sentenced Davis on Friday in federal court in Hartford, also ordered Davis to serve five years of supervised release and pay restitution.

Attorney Elliot R. Warren argued in court papers on Davis' behalf that the judge should consider a lenient sentence because Davis was not involved in the planning of the robbery, didn't supply a weapon, received only a small share of the stolen merchandise and because the victims were not harmed.

Davis' lawyer also noted that his client had suffered the effects of growing up in a home without a father in a crime-ridden part of Allentown. With no education beyond the ninth grade and four children to support, Davis turned to crimes such as theft and check forgery to make money.

With little guidance in his life, Davis was drawn to figures like Timothy Forbes and Jeffrey Houston, whom court papers describe as the leaders of the robbery schemes, and participated in the jewelry heists to earn their respect, Davis' lawyer wrote.

Federal prosecutors called Davis a criminal recidivist, noting that he has numerous convictions for theft, forgery and providing false identification to law enforcement. He was serving a sentence for forgery and theft when he walked away from the Wernersville Community Correctional Center in Berks County in January 2013.

A week later, on Jan. 31, 2013, Davis, Forbes, Houston and two other men, Kasam Hennix of Easton and Christopher Gay of the Bronx, N.Y., went to the home of the owner of Shuler's Jewelers in East Norriton, Montgomery County, where they kidnapped the owner at gunpoint as he pulled into his driveway, prosecutors said.

After ransacking his home, Davis, Houston and Forbes took the owner to the store in his own vehicle, while Hennix and Gay held the owner's wife at home. At the store, they forced the owner to open the safe, which they emptied before leaving, court papers say.

Prosecutors noted that, as in the later Connecticut robbery, the victims were bound with tape and had pillow cases placed over their heads.

Davis remained at large for more than a month and authorities did not connect him to the Montgomery County robbery when he was apprehended. He was allowed to return to the community corrections center, where prisoners are allowed out for jobs and counseling, but again escaped April 8, 2013.

On April 11, 2013, Davis, Forbes, Houston, Hennix and Gay went to the Meriden, Conn., apartment where four employees of Lennox Jewelers in nearby Fairfield lived together. Davis and three others forced their way into the home and bound the victims, while Forbes waited outside.

Davis, Houston and Hennix then forced two of the employees into a car while Forbes followed in a separate vehicle to the store. After forcing the workers to open the store and vault, the men filled several large duffel bags with expensive watches, loose diamonds and jewelry, much of which has never been recovered.

After an extensive investigation linked the gang to the Montgomery County and Connecticut robberies, police arrested Davis at his home in Allentown. During a search, they found $65,000 in cash, seven expensive watches, several pieces of diamond jewelry and a large quantity of crack cocaine.

They also noted that Davis' girlfriend was wearing a large diamond ring, which she turned over to investigators along with a large diamond earring that Davis had given her son, court filings say.

Davis cooperated with investigators, court papers say, and pleaded guilty in December to one count of interference with commerce by robbery and one count of use of a firearm during a crime of violence. Houston and Gay pleaded guilty to the same charges and are awaiting sentencing, while Forbes and Hennix are scheduled to stand trial starting May 12.